


Friends and Friendly Advice

by raendown



Series: NaNoWriMo 2020 Drabbles [98]
Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-17
Updated: 2019-11-17
Packaged: 2021-02-08 03:29:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21469336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raendown/pseuds/raendown
Summary: In times of trouble there are few people that Sai will go to for comfort.
Relationships: Sai & Yamato | Tenzou, Sai/Yamanaka Ino
Series: NaNoWriMo 2020 Drabbles [98]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1533161
Comments: 18
Kudos: 82





	Friends and Friendly Advice

Deciphering other people’s emotions and relating them to his own experiences wasn’t nearly as hard for him now as it once had been. After leaving ROOT Sai had experienced so many more emotions than he’d known even existed and although some of them were unpleasant he was glad to have known them all the same. Anything was better than the blank emptiness that had marked the first decade of his memories. Living under Danzo’s thumb had been all he knew and Sai only discovered the treasures that life truly had to offer when he finally committed himself to supporting Naruto, when he allowed himself to grow the attachments that he’d always been told were forbidden. He hadn’t looked back even once.

All of that said, there were days that having emotions were harder than others. Sai had an amazing life now, a wife and a child and so many friends it was sometimes hard to believe it wasn’t all a dream, but there were still times when he felt those bad emotions. He’d been told that was normal. Not everything would always be perfect, a little sadness was just part of life. He still didn’t like it.

Captain Yamato didn’t look all that surprised to find him there on the doorstep, though he supposed he might have announced himself by falling back in to old habits and knocking with three sharply even raps. He took the warm invitation to enter gladly. Very few places made him feel as safe as his own home but Captain Yamato’s apartment was one of them with its Mokuton reinforced walls and friendly chakra infused in to every nook and cranny. Even just the sight of all the handmade wooden décor had the tension unwinding from his shoulders.

“I heard that you and Ino had a fight,” his host said as he went straight for the pot of tea, hands working in full view where Sai could see every move he made.

“That is worrisome. If rumors have spread all the way to you then that means Ino is angrier than I originally anticipated.”

“Not really.” Captain Yamato smiled gently as he reached for a couple of mugs. “I happened to be having lunch with Sakura when Ino came to vent to her best friend and it took a while to find an opening to make my escape. That wife of yours, she talks fast.”

“Yes,” Sai agreed. He rather liked that about her. Ino’s fondness for endless chatter filled the empty spaces sometimes where otherwise his thoughts might have turned towards the past. Focusing on the present and the gifts he had been blessed with was much more pleasant than worrying about old hurts he couldn’t do anything about.

Accidentally insulting his wife yet again made that harder to do.

“Do you think she will forgive me?” he asked, his voice quiet and unsure. Emotions still made him unsure quite a lot of the time.

“Without a doubt. I think sometimes Ino reacts without taking the time to think about things from someone else’s perspective. You didn’t mean anything by what you said and she’ll realize that after she calms down. Just give her some space until then.”

Sai nodded and gratefully accepted the cup of tea when it was handed to him. “Thank you. Your advice is, as always, invaluable.”

“If it were anyone else knocking at my door on a day off I would have ignored them,” Captain Yamato joked.

They both knew it was a lie. As overworked as he was, the man would still bend over backwards to help a friend at the slightest provocation. Though Sai had never taken the time to embarrass them both by saying it out loud he considered this man a valuable role model in his continuing journey towards learning the intricacies of social behavior. He was a good person. Others were smooth or smart or possessed any number of admirable skills but Captain Yamato was, at his core, above all else, a very good man.

Yet somehow still a good shinobi too. Sai admired that in him more than anything.

“May I stay for a visit after the tea?” he asked.

“Of course. You’ll need somewhere to hide out until Ino comes crawling over with an apology.”

Sai very much doubted he would ever see Ino crawl for any reason outside of their intimate activities but he did appreciate the sentiment. When he sipped his tea he was pleased to taste just the right amount of milk and sugar, exactly how he liked it, and smiled to have his belief reaffirmed that he meant just as much to Captain Yamato as the man meant to him in turn.


End file.
